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3.2 Records, Reports, and Completion Certification

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Maryland Driving Instructor Study Guide Exam

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1 Chapter 1: Maryland Driving Instructor Credentials

1.1 Two Credentials: Instructor License vs. Instructor Certification 1.2 Qualifications, Background Checks, and Application 1.3 The Apprentice Instructor Permit and Supervised Training 1.4 MVA Testing and Required Instructor Courses 1.5 Badges, Renewal, Professional Development, and Discipline

2 Chapter 2: Driving Schools, Certified Schools, and Facilities

2.1 Drivers' School Licensing and Operational Requirements 2.2 Driver Education School Certification and Operating Rules 2.3 Business Office and Classroom Facility Requirements 2.4 Training Vehicle and Dual-Control Equipment Requirements

3 Chapter 3: Program Administration, Records, and Enforcement

3.1 Student Enrollment, Rights and Responsibilities, and Refunds 3.2 Records, Reports, and Completion Certification 3.3 Quality Control, Violations, and Progressive Discipline

4 Chapter 4: Delivering the Maryland Driver Education Program

4.1 The 30/6 Program Structure and Classroom Operation Rules 4.2 The 10-Unit MVA Classroom Curriculum 4.3 Behind-the-Wheel Instruction Requirements 4.4 Student Performance Criteria, Testing, and Remediation

5 Chapter 5: Instructional Methodology and In-Car Technique

5.1 Classroom Teaching Methods and Adolescent Driver Psychology 5.2 Dual-Control Mechanics, Instructor Interventions, and In-Car Safety 5.3 Progressive In-Car Instructional Sequence and Skill Milestones 5.4 In-Car Coaching, Commentary Driving, and Emergency Management

6 Chapter 6: Maryland Vehicle Law and the Rookie Driver System

6.1 The Learner's Instructional Permit 6.2 The Provisional License and the Full Driver's License 6.3 The Maryland Point System, Sanctions, and Hearings 6.4 Impaired Driving, Implied Consent, and Noah’s Law

7 Chapter 7: Traffic Control Devices and Maryland Rules of the Road

7.1 Maryland Road Signs, Signals, and Pavement Markings 7.2 Right-of-Way Rules and Intersection Management 7.3 Speed Regulations, Passing Rules, and Special Roadway Scenarios

8 Chapter 8: Defensive Driving Systems, Adverse Conditions, and Hazard Management

8.1 Space Management Systems (SIPDE and SEE) and Visual Search 8.2 Adverse Environmental Conditions and Emergency Maneuvers 8.3 Sharing the Road with Vulnerable Users and Commercial Vehicles 8.4 Post-Licensing Risk Factors and Lifelong Safe Driving Habits

3.2 Records, Reports, and Completion Certification

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

Both licensed drivers' schools and certified schools must retain business and student records for 3 years in a secure location, in hard copy or electronic format.

A certified school must submit the program completion certification electronically within 1 business day of the student's completion (COMAR 11.23.02.09F and .37B(1)).

Corrected completion information must be resubmitted electronically within 1 business day of notification of an error (COMAR 11.23.02.09H).

Annual reports are due to the Administration by January 31 for the previous calendar year (COMAR 11.23.01.08E; 11.23.02.09E).

Withdrawing or transferring students receive Form DE-003A for classroom instruction and Form DE-003B for behind-the-wheel instruction (COMAR 11.23.02.38A).

Last updated: September 2026

The Three-Year Retention Rule

Both chapters use nearly identical language.

  • COMAR 11.23.01.08A — a drivers' school "shall maintain for 3 years in a secure location, in
  • hard copy or electronic format, records and reports of all business activities of the school,"

including:

  • Instructor employment records;
  • Training vehicle insurance, maintenance, inspection, and registration records;
  • Surety bond certificates;
  • Results of tests and evaluations administered to each student ;
  • The number of students trained annually; and

Signed student rights and responsibilities forms.

COMAR 11.23.02.09A — a certified school "shall maintain for at least 3 years " the same

categories, except that item 5 is replaced with copies of each student's program completion forms .

Records shall be made available to the Administration during the school's posted business hours (11.23.01.08B; 11.23.02.09B). Electronic storage is expressly permitted; the requirement is a secure location , not paper.

Lost or destroyed records

If records become lost, mutilated, or destroyed , the school shall notify the Administration immediately, in writing , stating the date and circumstances (11.23.01.08C; 11.23.02.09C). There

is no grace period and no threshold — any loss triggers immediate written notice.

  • Fatal crashes
  • A drivers' school "shall immediately notify the Administration of any vehicular crash involving a
  • training vehicle resulting in a fatality" (11.23.01.08D). A certified school shall provide the same

notice in writing within 1 business day (11.23.02.09D).

Annual Reports (due January 31)

  • Drivers' school (11.23.01.08E) Certified school (11.23.02.09E)
  • Deadline By January 31 for the previous calendar year By January 31 for the previous calendar year
  • Submission Electronically , in the required format In the required format

Contents Number of students trained annually and each student's name, soundex or license number, and date of birth Number of applicants and students enrolled; and the number of program students who were deaf and hard of hearing , were 18 years old or older , required additional or remedial training , dropped out before completion, or transferred to another school

The certified-school report is a program-evaluation instrument, which is why it breaks out

accessibility, adult learners, remediation, attrition, and transfers.

  • Completion Certification (COMAR 11.23.02.37 and .09F-H)
  • A certified school shall submit a program completion certification to the Administration, in the

MVA's format, for each student who successfully completes the program (.37A).

Effective January 1, 2009, a certified school:

  • Shall submit the completion certification electronically in the MVA's format within 1
  • business day of the student's completion of the program;
  • May submit completion information on-line for a student who never received a license and lost
  • a previously issued Driver Education Program Completion Certificate Form DE-004 , provided the
  • school still holds the student's records;
  • May not issue a Form DE-004 to any student who completed a program course after December 31,
  • 2008 ; and
  • Was required to return all unused DE-004 inventory and accounting information to the MVA by

April 1, 2009.

COMAR 11.23.02.09G requires the completion certification report to include successful completion

of both classroom and behind-the-wheel program instruction. §H requires the school to electronically submit corrected information within 1 business day of notification of any errors .

  • The one-business-day rule, three times over
  • Completion certification (.09F), corrections (.09H), and the certified-school fatality notice
  • (.09D) all run on a 1 business day clock. So does submission of the annual State inspection
  • certificate for a training vehicle (11.23.01.22D; 11.23.02.33D). Where COMAR 11.23 wants speed, it

says one business day.

Related: COMAR 11.23.02.08A(9)(b) requires the school to inform the student that the driving

record will not be updated by the Administration for at least 3 business days after completion.

The school reports in one business day; the record posts in about three. Students and parents

frequently confuse the two, and instructors are expected to explain the difference.

  • Transfer and Reciprocity (COMAR 11.23.02.38)
  • §A — a certified school shall provide the student documentary evidence of any program instruction

successfully completed:

  • Classroom Student Record and Completion Form DE-003A , signed by an authorized school official,
  • documenting classroom instruction completed; and
  • Behind-the-Wheel Student Record and Completion Form DE-003B , signed by an authorized school

official, documenting behind-the-wheel instruction completed.

  • §B — the Administration may accept documentary evidence of satisfactory completion of a driver
  • education program from another state or jurisdiction as meeting the requirements of Transportation
  • Article, §16-105, if the out-of-state program meets or exceeds Maryland's statutory

requirements and standards.

  • Keep the form numbers straight: DE-003A = classroom transfer record; DE-003B = behind-the-wheel
  • transfer record; DE-004 = the retired paper completion certificate that may no longer be issued

for courses completed after December 31, 2008.

  • Worked scenario
  • Case. A student finishes the last behind-the-wheel hour at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday. The school
  • transmits the completion certification the following Tuesday and tells the family the MVA record

will be current immediately.

  • Analysis. Two defects. The transmission is late: COMAR 11.23.02.09F requires electronic
  • submission within 1 business day of the student's completion, which here means by the end of
  • Monday. And the statement to the family contradicts COMAR 11.23.02.08A(9)(b), which requires the

school to inform the student that the driving record will not be updated for at least 3 business days after completion.